GARDAÍ IN WEXFORD have arrested two men in connection with a raid on a hotel in Co Wexford yesterday morning.

The two men, both aged in their 20s, were arrested at a mobile home in Courtown, about 12 miles south of Kilmuckridge where Seán Óg’s hotel was raided in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The raid, which occurred at about 4:30am, saw the gang of four armed men break into the hotel and threaten the night porter at gunpoint.

That raid was foiled when a safe being taken by the armed raisers became jammed in a lift, forcing them to abandon it there. A blue Mini car, which had been stolen in Courtown the previous day, was later found burnt out nearby.

The two men are being held at Enniscorthy Garda Station under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act.

Gardaí declined to comment on whether the men are also suspected of being behind a raid on a rural post office in Oulart, seven miles from Kilmuckridge, in which a 66-year-old postmistress named and her 31-year-old son both sustained gunshot wounds.

Christine Dempsey and her son John were shot in the arm and leg respectively – though neither’s injuries are life-threatening.